


Locked In

by Bluewolf458



Series: Escape [4]
Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-18 21:50:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14222526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Blair finds himself locked into a mall after closing time





	Locked In

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2018 Sentinel Bingo prompt 'locked in'

Locked In

by Bluewolf

Blair Sandburg washed his hands, dried them on a paper towel, dropped it in the otherwise empty disposal unit, and turned towards the door.

He was never sure just what he slipped on, but his feet went from under him and he fell, hitting his head on the edge of one of the stalls in the restroom. He was totally unaware of hitting the floor.

***

The first thing Blair was aware of was feeling cold. He groped for the blankets and felt only cold floor. He blinked open heavy eyes - and saw nothing. He lay for a moment, and then remembered slipping and falling.

God! He was still in the restroom; nobody had come in after him, nobody had found him... He groped in his pocket and found his keys. There was a mini flashlight attached to the key ring. It didn't give much light, but it let him orient himself.

He scrambled to his feet, and swayed unsteadily for a moment. Then he took a deep breath and made his way to the door.

He had half expected it to be locked but no - it opened. He made his way along the mall level to the stairs; clutching the bannister, he headed down. The last thing he wanted was to take a header down them!

The front doors of the building were locked, which didn't surprise him. What did surprise him was that everything was dark - he would have expected there to be a night watchman in the place, and at least dim lighting. Of course - he checked his watch, finding it, at 11:32 pm, earlier than he had thought.

Although Blair knew his way around the main part of the mall he didn't know where there was an entrance to the staff rooms... or the manager's office.

He dug into his backpack. Had he remembered to recharge his phone?

Yes!

He dialed 911 and called the police.

"Yes - hello." He explained what had happened, finishing with, "So I'm locked in. If there's a night watchman, I can't find him. I don't think it's a good idea for me to sit here waiting for whoever opens the building in the morning to find me... Whoever it was would probably call the police and charge me with doing something illegal. Would it be possible to find someone who could let me out?"

"I'll see what I can do, sir."

Blair put the phone away, resigned to a wait of possibly an hour before he could get out, and switched his small light off. Best to conserve as much of its power as he could. It was a useful thing to have, but he had been given this one and he had no idea where he could get another.

***

He retreated to the stairs and sat on the second step, trying to relax and wishing he had some Tylenol in his backpack to ease the dull ache in his head where he had hit it.

He had less time to wait than he had expected, however; it wasn't long before a pick-up stopped in front of the building and two men got out; they crossed to the door and one of them opened it.

The other had a powerful flashlight, which he shone around the corridor. Blair pushed himself to his feet and moved forward, staggering a little as he went. The man with the flashlight moved quickly forward to steady him.

"Thanks," Blair managed. He was beginning to feel really woozy again, and he leaned rather harder on the man than he had intended.

"Are you all right?" It was the one who had unlocked the door.

"Just... I'd like to get to bed," Blair managed.

"Is your car here?" the one with the flashlight asked.

"No... I walked... "

"All right. I'm Detective Ellison; because Mr. Thorburn here lives beside me Despatch asked me to bring him here. We can take you home, but I'm afraid we're going to have to go to the PD first so you can make a statement."

"But I told the girl what had happened when I phoned... "

Thorburn nodded. "Thing is, sir, you should have been found before the store was locked for the night. I understand you fell in one of the restrooms? But someone should have made sure, last thing, there was nobody in there."

"I think... the bin for paper towels was empty. It had maybe been checked just before I went in."

"Doesn't matter. You're the first person to have been locked in, but a couple of years ago it nearly happened - we found a woman in one of the restrooms with a sick child. She was so intent on the youngster she hadn't realized the store was closing.

"And then I understand you slipped on something?"

"Yes, but I don't know what."

"Well, we'll investigate, but as Detective Ellison says, you'll need to give a statement."

***

After Blair gave his statement, Detective Ellison dropped Mr. Thorburn at his home and carried on to take Blair home, Blair having insisted that he didn't need a medical check-up.

Ellison turned his truck into the street Blair had indicated... to see the road ahead blocked by police and fire vehicles.

Blair gasped as he saw the fire. "That's my building!"

Ellison stopped at the first police vehicle, and spoke to the officer in it. Then he came back. "I've got a spare room - you can stay there tonight."

"Thanks."

At least all Blair's most valued possessions were in his office at Rainier... and having been locked in at the mall, while traumatic, had saved him the worse trauma of trying to escape from a burning building.


End file.
